24. ~Sebastian~

The last few days had been incredible.

That night of the forest fuck took top billing, though.

And not the actual twisted, out-of-control fucking that had basically put everything out there between us that we’d all been keeping at bay.

It was Skylar’s incredible confession that had risen above all the rest.

Her words were imprinted on my brain.

And I just knew they always would be.

“I love you. I love you all.”

“I’m here to stay with you all.”

That moment when she’d let go with us would live within me forever.

Being forced away from us for so long had made her realize what I already had two years back—that what we had between us was special, a once-in-a-lifetime kind of connection. And one that could never fucking die either.

We were bound together now. In the best way.

I looked up from my laptop at her over on the opposite couch of the den as she was typing away.

She was in work-mode, her loose curls pulled into one of her sexy messy ponytails. My cock jerked at the sight of her breasts pushed up in a delicious offering in her blue wrap top with the edgy black lace sleeves. Jeez. It was why I hadn’t looked up for a while, because the sight of her was beyond distracting whenever I did. Now that she’d gone there again with us physically, it was all back on the table, and it had lit a fire in me, and the need to be all over her and fuck her into that couch was right at the surface. The only things holding me back were that she was trying so hard to get back into her video game creation, working on that sequel now, and the fact that I needed to finish up the last parts of my final year project.

She shifted her weight a little in her black bootcut pants, her silver butterfly belt jangling with her movements.

“Can I help you?” she asked coyly without looking up from her screen, the corner of her mouth turning up, though.

“I have no doubt that you can. In a shit-ton of ways, baby.”

That had her eyes snapping right to mine, and I saw them spark with need.

She sucked in a stilted breath. “I’m under strict instructions from Caspian not to let you get distracted from your schoolwork.”

I chuckled. “I’d expect nothing less. He knows me well.”

“And he knows how you are with me.”

“That too.” My lip curled up. “It’s not my fault you’re irresistible.”

She wagged her finger at me. “Uh uh. None of that.”

“None of what? Giving you well-earned compliments?”

“Flirting.”

“Harmless flirting, you mean?”

She rolled her eyes. “Please, it’s never harmless with you and you know it.”

“Maybe that’s something I’m working on.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I mean, as much as feeding you my cock or having you ride me in that incredible feral way of yours is right up there as my favorite way to spend my time, I also like this… us working side-by-side and bantering. Flirting and all that doesn’t always need to lead to some rough and wild fucking.” I smiled out at her. “And after the other night, everything you said, a lot of the weight of the anxiety I’ve been feeling when it comes to us has eased off.”

“You feel like you don’t need to keep actively marking your territory and staking a claim on me?”

She’d posed it as a question, but her tone was closer to a statement.

She’d obviously seen it in me then, the calm that had come over me after that major turning point the other night.

“Pretty much.” I winked at her. “Not that I don’t want to. I mean, I’ll always want to jump your bones, baby. But that need isn’t tangled up in a load of other shit now.”

“I’m glad. I don’t want you to worry. I am here with you now. I promise, sweets.”

A thrill rolled through me. She hadn’t called me that in so long.

And as cutesy as it was, I fucking loved it.

I loved anything that she did to express affection for me, for us.

We stared at one another for a moment, basking in the sweet moment.

And then she blinked and snapped her fingers. “Back to work.”

“Wait. How’s it going with developing those new characters for your sequel?”

“Good. Really good. I guess with not doing this for a while, all that creativity that’s been stifled is now bursting out of me, determined to be heard and stuff.”

“That’s great.”

“Remember that character sketch I made based on you?”

“Yeah.”

“He’s gonna be a major player in this sequel, so I’m working on him now. One of his magical abilities is being able to wield hellfire.”

“Damn, that sounds amazing.”

“Because it’s based on you?” she asked, amusement dancing in her eyes.

“Not just that. Wow, you’re really painting me as an egomaniac, huh?”

“I’m kidding. Believe me, you’re the farthest thing from an egomaniac. I know egomaniacs and you don’t fit the bill.”

“I know,” I said, chuckling. “I’m just fucking with you. After all, I’m not my brother. He’s got that egomaniac thing down pat.”

I stilled, then grimaced at those words being put out there. To her, of all people.

A grimace twisted her features.

“Shit. I’m sorry, Sky. I didn’t mean—”

“There’s something I need to tell you.” She sucked in a breath. “About him.”

“What? What could you have to tell me about him? You’ve been away for two years and he was gone for a good portion of that too. You haven’t left this house to see him around either and—” My gut twisted. “You were with him during those two years?”

“Eww, no. Not in the way you’re clearly thinking, judging by the expression on your face.”

“Yeah, that didn’t seem to add up. Sorry. So, what, you tried to go after him then, after what he did to you at the fight club, with the tape?”

“I wouldn’t hurt him because he’s your brother. Even if you gave me permission, I wouldn’t, because I know you’d regret it down the road, like I’m sure you did when you clashed that day at the Thorn estate.”

Damn, she knew me too well. She was good at reading people. Everyone except herself, because she kept so much locked up to try to keep control.

Well she had been like that. She was different now, changing, as the other night had shown.

I put my laptop down and crossed to her, taking a seat beside her on the couch, my urgency building. “Then what, Sky? What happened?”

She shut her laptop lid. “He helped me, Bastian.”

I frowned. Now that definitely didn’t compute either.

Before I had to ask, she went on, nervously wringing her hands on the closed lid of her laptop, “When I was searching out Jett, I came across Damien. It became apparent that he had a line to him somehow. I reached out and he agreed to help me. Well, more like begged me to let him help me. He wanted to make amends for what he did to me, and to you, through helping me. He was the one who pointed me toward those locations where Jett was gathering recruits to build his own army to protect himself and get back in the game.”

“Jesus Christ.”

“I know. I didn’t want to rock the boat by telling you, and I thought it was over, because after I came around with you guys and also made that deal with Caspian, I had no intent of going to Damien again, because that would mean going around all of you.”

“Then why tell me now? Brutal honesty?”

“In part. I don’t want there to be anything there to get between us. But also because I received another message from him this morning.”

She was snatching up her phone from the couch cushion then. She swiped it open, scrolled for a couple of moments, then handed it to me.

I took in a text conversation there.

Damien: Jett’s come out of hiding. Working on getting a location. You want it?

Skylar: No. It’s done. No more.

Damien: You want me to drop it, for real? No more tracking him for you?

Skylar: Drop it, yes. I don’t need it. Things have changed. Thank you for all your help.

Damien: All right. Consider it dropped.

Damien: Least I could do, by the way. Hope you’re doing better.

Skylar: Getting there.

Damien: Good. I mean that, Bluebell.

Skylar: I know you do.

Damien: Take care of my little brother for me, yeah? Bye, Sky.

Skylar: Bye.

“Wow,” I breathed, absently handing her phone back to her as I tried to absorb it.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”

“You didn’t actually need to tell me at all. He never would’ve sold you out, not with his goal clearly to redeem himself to you. The fact you did tell me is what matters.”

“It is?” she asked, tentatively.

I smiled and took one of her nervously twitching hands in mine. “And that you gave up your shot of finding Jett on your own. Your mission, Sky. Something you were so hellbent on.”

“I did it for you. For the three of you.”

“I know, baby.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but closed it again, and winced.

“What?”

“I just… you probably don’t want to hear this, but it really seems like he is trying to make amends. And helping me wasn’t for me. It was for you, Bastian. He’s recognized and accepted what I mean to you, and he’s trying to protect that. He even tried to guide me back here with a few choice words and comments here and there. Of course, circumstances being what they were at the time, I couldn’t even consider that, but he still tried, nonetheless.”

“I’m getting that, yeah.”

“Maybe sometime down the road you can consider it properly. But, hopefully, for now, you can take some comfort and peace in the fact that he’s trying, that he’s trying to be your brother again.”

I pulled her into me and kissed her cheek chastely.

She turned into it and nuzzled against me, and it was a struggle to leave it at that, and force myself to pull away.

Somehow, I actually managed it, and pushed off the couch.

As I returned to my seat and settled back down with my laptop, she opened hers with her eyes on me. “Are we… I mean, is everything—”

“We’re good, beautiful. More than good. It means a lot that you told me this and that you turned down that intel.”

“Okay, okay, good.”

“Sky, nothing can fuck with what we have now. Nothing, okay? You’re ours, through and through. Whatever comes, we face it together.”

A smile lit her features and I saw that nervousness and awkwardness that this conversation had wrought dissipate.

We both returned to our work then and I focused-up, concentrating on my thesis project. I’d already finished three other final assignments for my other classes and this big project was the last thing I need to complete before it was exam time.

I’d chosen to go with a futuristic conceptual design where I could combine my love for architecture and my love for enveloping myself in imaginary worlds from my many years of gaming and immersing myself in fantastical worlds through the types of high-fantasy books I gravitated toward reading in my downtime. I was also combining that with Caspian’s influence and passion of developing next-gen tech. Going this route was definitely out there and pushing it, but I wanted to take a chance and make a bold move for my final project, to show that this was what I was really about and what I would bring with me into my career too.

As I was getting back into it, something kept nagging at me, something that was determined to be addressed, no matter how hard I tried to shove it down while I was trying to work.

It was because I’d worked really hard not to shove things down or bottle things up.

Dammit.

There was no way that Cas didn’t know about this.

He was monitoring Sky’s communications and he’d told her he would be until Jett was taken down. It was a precaution all around—to protect all of us.

So he would have known about those texts that had come in from Damien.

The timestamp had put them at five in the morning, before he’d left for work at King Tower earlier today. Yet, he’d shown no reaction at all, hadn’t mentioned them, hadn’t pulled Sky aside for a private conversation about it, hadn’t announced it all to us at breakfast.

That meant that he’d known way beyond those texts.

He’d known since the beginning in all likelihood.

Considering his stance on controlling the situation with Jett and him absolutely not trusting my brother, he wouldn’t have allowed him to feed Sky that intel knowing she could’ve gotten to Jett and fucked-up his bigger-picture strategy, or that she could’ve gotten hurt really badly too.

Fuck. He was controlling it beyond just Sky. Knowing him, he was likely having Damien feed her delayed information so she couldn’t have reached Jett, just his lackeys.

Had he actually put Damien in that position of being a line to Jett too?

If that was the case, he’d known Damien was helping all this time and really trying to make amends, yet he hadn’t told me.

I got it, he was worried about me finding good in my brother again and trusting him again, wanting to rebuild our relationship, because he could flip on a dime like he’d done before.

He was trying to protect me.

But at the same time, I needed to be the one to make the choice there when it came down to it.

It also meant he was still so worried that I wasn’t actually better, that I’d relapse at any fucking time.

“Bastian?”

I jolted and looked to see Sky staring at me with a whole lot of worry.

“You’ve been staring off into space for the last ten minutes.”

Ten minutes? “Just thinking.”

“Because of what I told you about Damien? Shit, I’m so sorry. I thought it would be best if it was out in the open and—”

“It’s okay, it’s not that. Not exactly. I’m glad you told me.”

“Then what’s up?”

“Caspian.”

She cocked an eyebrow.

“He knew about this. About Damien helping you. In fact, I’d actually go as far as to wager that he made Damien get close to Jett to get him intel on Jett’s whereabouts too, to manipulate Jett to his liking.”

“I thought Caspian didn’t like to use his calculative approach on us, those within his inner circle? That’s why he told me about monitoring my communications, to ensure there was transparency.”

“He’s at war, so he’s in the mindset of crossing lines he normally wouldn’t.”

“It’s coming from a good place. It couldn’t not with him, Bastian, with how much he cares, how deeply he loves.”

“That’s the only reason I’m not pissed. I am a little indignant, though, because this means he doesn’t trust that we can help ourselves and make the right decisions. Most of all, though, if this is really the case, it means we’re a burden to him alongside all the rest he’s already trying to shoulder. Part of the reason Cal left wasn’t just that darkness that was taking him over, it was so that he could grow and ensure he was no longer seen as a charge of Caspian’s, that he wouldn’t have to worry about him or protect him to the extent that he was beforehand. And it worked, he returned as his equal.”

“Then it’s time for us to do the same.” That sly, sexy look burned into me as she said, “Don’t you think, sweets?”

I grinned back at her. “I absolutely do.”

“Well, you’re gonna get a chance to prove that real soon,” a voice came from the door, startling us.

We both swung our heads to see Caleb leaning against the door frame of the den, his arms and ankles crossed as he smirked out at us.

“How much did you hear?” I asked.

“More than enough.”

“Listen, Cal—”

“Cas does know about Damien feeding Skylar intel,” he said, cutting me off. “He also engineered Damien growing closer to Jett, so he could get an in without raising Elijah’s suspicions.”

I frowned. “And you’re selling Cas out like this, because?”

“I’m not selling him out. We’re way beyond all of that now. He asked me to tell you as soon as he saw those texts of Damien’s to Skylar this morning. He’s just caught up in a war meet with his Board and chief partners so he can’t step out to do it himself. I would’ve done it sooner, but I had to check in with my facilities.” He pushed off the door frame and sauntered into the den toward us. “He wants us all on the same page.” He eyed me pointedly. “But, yeah, he is worried about you letting D back in.”

“And what’s your stance on him?”

He sighed and sat down next to Sky, kicking his feet up on the coffee table and lounging back. “He wants a connection. He craves it, in fact. He doesn’t always go about it in the right way, we know this. But he is lonely. Very lonely.”

“What about what he did to you, Caleb?” Sky asked gently.

“That was an example of him not going about making connections in the right way. But he did stop. As fucked-up as it is, that was actually a major deal for him, a big step in the right direction.”

“So you think he’s actually changed?” I asked.

“I think he’s trying. But I also think Cas is right that there’s still a risk there.” He shifted his weight a little on the couch, then told me, “I also think that it’s about time you showed Cas that you can handle it either way now.”

“I do too.”

“He’s carrying a shit-ton of weight on his back,” Caleb continued. “As strong and as resilient as he is, there’s only so much anybody can bear before they break, and I’m fucking worried about him. We need to take some of that burden off him. You with Damien.” He looked at Sky. “And you by proving that you can handle this Jett shit when the time comes.”

I nodded along. “It’s been our dynamic for a long time to have him looking after us, it’s time it shifted now. It’s ready to.”

“Exactly, B.”

I looked to see Sky deep in thought, taking everything in, her brow furrowing as she considered it all, her clear worry for Cas bleeding through too.

Caleb told her, “I need to pull you away from your work to do another session before Granger gets here in an hour.”

She blinked out of her thoughts. “Sure, yeah. Good idea.”

As he rose to his feet, she packed up and left her laptop on the couch.

“Get back to work,” Caleb told me.

“Planning on it,” I told him.

“I second that,” Sky said, coming to me and giving me a quick kiss on the cheek, before heading out with him.

I watched them go, deep in thought about everything we’d just discussed.

Things were definitely shifting.

And Caleb was right, it was time we took it all the way.

After everything he’d done for us, Caspian deserved nothing less from us.